John Dean Provincial Park 5/47 weeks

John Dean Park is closed to traffic from Nov. to Mar. but the multiple trails are accessible. At the advice of a new friend we climbed the road and took the first trail to the left.
Barrett Montfort trail winds along nicely between the park road and the neighbourhood below.
There were 2 new hikers joining us this weekend along with our regular crew. It was lucky for us that Gail came along because I think she has a wealth of information about local parks and hiking trails. I was delighted to also meet Jeremy. What a surprise to encounter a backyard botanist with a special place in his heart for mushrooms. It was like having our own CRD naturalist along. We are definately going to let him plan a special hike with an eye toward learning as much as we can about a variety of fungi, medicinal and edible.

We hiked along to the Thompson Cabin Site trail which was really a cut through the middle of the park. On this trail we passed beautiful heritage trees and the site of the original Thompson cabin. John Dean donated this land back in the 1920's. There are actually five separate plant communities being sheltered in this beautiful park that borders the Pauquachin First Nations Reserve. It is an opportunity to be in a forest that has been protected for 90 years. I must admit that I didnt even know there was a Mount Newton, other than the road in Central Saanich, of course. John Dean park is just at the top of it and some of the views are magnificent. I wished I had known that Pickles Lookout was so close to us at the summit before we headed back down to the main road. Another reason to print and carry a map.
Our best guess is that we were in the park for about 2 hours. We will definately visit John Dean again with an entire day to spend. We didnt even begin to explore the variety of beauty this park has to offer. All the trails were well marked to correspond to the park map. This seems like a small thing until you are deep into a park and the wrong, unmarked turn could mean you end up at Thetis Lake. But that was another story.  I think one of the reasons this park is so accessible, well marked and well maintained is due to the Friends of John Dean Provincial Park Society. I may just join.

Jessica, who has been on three of our hikes along with her regular workout routine, told me that she already noticed a difference on the weekly hikes. This was by far our longest and most strenuous hike and we both felt strong and energized. I hope everyone else did too. I can especially feel the increase in my lung health. I still pant my way up an incline but I feel as if my lungs are responding to the fresh air more each time. Five weeks of hikes and changes are already being felt. We cant help but be grateful that we live in such a beautiful place with so many enchanting parks at out fingertips. Victoria has one acre of parkland for each 20 residents making it one of the highest people to park ratios in North America with 48 local parks. For our yearly quest, we need only 4 additional hikes. It will be as easy as a trip up island.

I snapped this picture of our bunch as I was setting up a group shot. Getting the camera ready I heard them all laughing and took it with no warning. I think it shows a happy, relaxed bunch. All fresh air-ed up.

Next week: Horth Hill